Ares Management and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board have agreed to acquire a majority interest in TricorBraun, a rigid and flexible packaging supplier, from AEA Investors.
TricorBraun is one of the largest North American distributors of primary packaging including glass containers, closures, dispensers, tubes and flexibles. Customers of the company include numerous consumer packaged goods companies operating in the personal care, household cleaning, food and beverage, healthcare, and nutraceutical sectors.
TricorBraun was founded in 1902 and acquired by CHS Capital (then Code Hennessy & Simmons) in 1999. CHS sold the company to AEA in 2004, repurchased it in 2006, and sold it again to AEA in November 2016.
TricorBraun, with more than $1.5 billion in annual sales, has more than 1,100 employees at 50 locations in North America, Europe, and Asia. The St. Louis-headquartered company is led by its executive chairman Keith Strope and CEO Court Carruthers. TricorBraun’s senior management team will continue to lead the business in partnership with Ares and Ontario Teachers’, with AEA maintaining a minority interest in the company.
“We believe that TricorBraun’s deep expertise, entrepreneurial approach, strong track record, and exceptional culture differentiate the company from its peers,” said Brian Klos, a partner at Ares. “We look forward to working with Court and TricorBraun’s strong management team to drive the next phase of the company’s growth, both organically and through strategic acquisitions.”
“Ares and Ontario Teachers’ are the right partners to help us expand on our steady growth as we continue to build the best place for the best people in packaging,” said Mr. Carruthers. “We have had a tremendously successful partnership with AEA, culminating with record sales in 2020, and we look forward to working with Ares and Ontario Teachers’ to deliver even greater value to our customers and suppliers over the coming years.”
TricorBraun completed several add-on acquisitions under AEA ownership including the buy of Willard, Utah-based Price Container and Packaging in September 2020, and Minneapolis-based Packaging Solutions in January 2020.
“TricorBraun is uniquely positioned to serve the requirements of the packaging industry,” said Karen Frank, a senior managing director at Ontario Teachers’. “The company has made significant investments in top talent and operations and will seek to capitalize on those to drive long-term growth in the years ahead. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to partner with TricorBraun through its next chapter.”
Ares Management (NYSE: ARES) has approximately $179 billion of assets under management and invests in private equity, leveraged loans, high-yield bonds, distressed debt, and private debt. Within Ares, its private equity group manages $23 billion of assets and is currently investing its fifth private equity fund with $7.8 billion of committed capital. Ares is headquartered in Los Angeles with offices across the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
Headquartered in Toronto, Ontario Teachers is one of Canada’s largest and most active pension investors with C$205 billion in assets under management. The group has additional offices in Hong Kong and London.
“We are proud of our work with Keith, Court, and the TricorBraun management team to help drive growth through a number of successful initiatives, creating significant long-term value,” said Tom Pryma, a partner at AEA. “We value our strong partnership, and we are excited to continue our support of TricorBraun’s growth strategies.”
AEA invests across three sectors – value-added industrials, consumer, and services – and has 70 investment professionals at its headquarters in New York City with additional offices in Connecticut, London, Munich, and Shanghai. AEA was founded in 1968 by the Rockefeller, Mellon, and Harriman family interests and S.G. Warburg & Co.
Harris Williams is the financial advisor to TricorBraun on this transaction. The Harris William’s transaction team is led by Bob Baltimore, Graham Gillam and Bill Greven of the firm’s specialty distribution group, and Brandt Carr and Dan Savage of the firm’s industrials group.
“Having worked with TricorBraun previously, it has been impressive to witness the company’s continued success under the management team and AEA’s leadership,” said Mr. Baltimore. “We are proud to have worked with AEA and management on another successful transaction and are excited to watch the company build on its leadership position with the support of its new partners.”
The TricorBraun transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2021.
© 2021 Private Equity Professional | January 8, 2021
Genstar has sold Pretium Packaging, a manufacturer of plastic containers and closures, to Clearlake Capital Group.
“We built Pretium from the talent and capabilities of several independent companies in the US and Canada into the most trusted supplier of rigid packaging solutions today,” said David Golde, a managing director at Genstar. “The combination of Genstar’s investment team and Pretium’s strong leadership under Paul Kayser allowed us to double the size of the business and create a company that today has the scale and dedication to innovative solutions to meet specific market needs. The significant investments we made in processes, product innovation, and add-on initiatives completed over the past several years will continue to drive value for Clearlake.”
San Francisco-based 
“Pretium flourished under Genstar’s ownership and thanks to their support and collaborative approach we have created a strong platform with customized packaging solutions and strong engineering capabilities poised for future success in the packaging industry,” said Mr. Kayser. “Our leading-edge products and superior service will support our customer’s needs well into the future. We are excited about our next chapter of growth in partnership with Clearlake.”
Fortis Solutions, a portfolio company of Main Post Partners, has acquired Infinite Packaging Group from Svoboda Capital.
Fortis Solutions, acquired by Main Post in December 2017, provides labeling and packaging – including pressure sensitive and shrink sleeve labels, booklet printing, variable data printing, multi-ply coupon printing and flexible packaging printing – to companies active in the consumer packaged goods sector. Fortis has manufacturing and sales offices in Austin, TX; Ellington, CT; Flowery Branch, GA; Fort Worth, TX; High Point, NC; Kansas City, MO; Memphis, TN; West Chester, OH; and Wixom, MI. The company, led by CEO John Wynne, Jr., is headquartered in Virginia Beach, VA (
Main Post makes both control and non-control investments in middle market growth companies in the consumer, business services and industrial growth sectors. The firm was founded in April 2014 by managing partners Sean Honey and Jeffrey Mills, both former partners at Weston Presidio. Main Post is headquartered in San Francisco (
Svoboda Capital, the seller of Infinite Packaging, invests from $10 million to $25 million in business services, value-added distribution, and consumer products companies that have revenues from $10 million to $100 million and EBITDAs from $3 million to $15 million. The Chicago-based firm was founded in 1998 and has over $400 million of capital under management (
PPC Flexible Packaging, a portfolio company of Morgan Stanley Capital Partners, has acquired Temkin International.
PPC Flexible is a flexographic printer and converter of flexible films, bags and pouches that are used in the retail food and healthcare markets. The company is headquartered near Chicago in Buffalo Grove, IL with additional manufacturing facilities in Mission, KS, and Rome, GA (
“We believe Temkin is an excellent complement to PPC, enhancing the product offering to the market while embodying the same service-focus culture as PPC,” said Eric Kanter, Managing Director of Morgan Stanley Capital Partners. “We congratulate Mr. Temkin on his tremendous success, and we’re thrilled to partner with Lynn Abplanalp and the rest of the Temkin employees.”
Morgan Stanley Capital Partners is the middle-market focused private equity business of Morgan Stanley Investment Management which in turn is part Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), a financial services firm providing investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services (
Rohrer Corporation, a portfolio company of ShoreView Industries since December 2009, has acquired Transparent Container.
Rohrer is a manufacturer of high-visibility, paperboard and thermoformed plastic consumer packaging including graphically intensive blister, skin, folding carton, high volume board packaging, and clamshell packaging. The company’s customers are active in a range of end markets, including hardware, office supplies, batteries, consumer electronics, automotive aftermarket, consumer products and personal care. Rohrer is headquartered near Akron in Wadsworth, OH and also has production facilities in Buford, GA; Huntley, IL; Mesa, AZ; and Solon, OH (
ShoreView makes control and minority investments in US-based middle market companies that have revenues from $20 million to $300 million and operating profits from $5 million to $40 million. Sectors of interest include manufacturing, distribution and services. The firm currently has $900 million of capital under management and is based in Minneapolis (
World Wide Packaging, a portfolio company of ShoreView Industries, has been acquired by Bain Capital Private Equity.
ShoreView Industries makes control and minority investments in US-based middle market companies that have revenues from $20 million to $300 million and operating profits from $5 million to $40 million. Sectors of interest include manufacturing, distribution and service providers. The firm currently has $900 million of capital under management and is based in Minneapolis (
Bain Capital Private Equity was founded in 1984 and invests in the consumer and retail; financial and business services; healthcare; industrials; and technology, media and telecommunications sectors. The firm has a team of approximately 220 investment professionals with offices in Boston, Chicago, New York, Palo Alto, San Francisco, Dublin, London, Munich, Melbourne, Mumbai, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney and Tokyo (
ProAmpac, a portfolio company of PPC Partners, has acquired Gateway Packaging Company, a portfolio company of Saw Mill Capital since June 2010. PPC acquired ProAmpac from Wellspring Capital Management in October 2016.
Gateway Packaging, led by CEO Omar Abuaita, was founded in 1982 and is headquartered north of Nashville in White House, TN (
ProAmpac’s packaging capabilities include adhesive lamination, extrusion coating and lamination, film extrusion, metalizing, pouching, bag converting, rotogravure printing, flexographic/offset printing, and HD flexo printing. The company operates under the Prolamina, Ampac, Tulsack, Bonita Pioneer and Trinity Packaging brands and serves customers in the food, pet care, health care, lawn care, and retail markets as well as providing packaging used in the transport of cash and valuables. ProAmpac has 33 manufacturing sites with nearly 3,700 employees supplying more than 5,000 customers in 90 countries. ProAmpac is headquartered in Cincinnati (
Gateway will be integrated into ProAmpac’s Extrusion and Laminations division, led by division President Tom Loewald. “The acquisition of Gateway expands our product offering with the addition of multi-wall bags while also increasing our manufacturing capacity of several pouch formats,” said Greg Tucker, CEO of ProAmpac.
PPC Partners acquires North America-based middle-market companies that have enterprise values between $100 million and $750 million and EBITDA in excess of $15 million. Sectors of interest include manufactured products, services and healthcare. The firm is led by Tony Pritzker and the former investment and operating professionals of Pritzker Group Private Capital. PPC Partners has offices in Chicago and Los Angeles (
Saw Mill Capital, the seller of Gateway Packaging, invests in North American-based manufacturing, industrial and commercial service, and specialty distribution businesses with $25 million to $200 million of revenues and $5 million to $25 million of EBITDA. The firm was founded in 1997 and is headquartered north of New York City in Briarcliff Manor, NY (
ProAmpac, a portfolio company of PPC Partners, has acquired Pactech Packaging. PPC acquired ProAmpac from Wellspring Capital Management in October 2016.
The buy of Pactech is the second add-on acquisition closed by ProAmpac in 2018. In January it acquired Portland, OR-based Bonita Pioneer, a manufacturer of paper packaging products including custom and stock shopping bags, merchandise bags, foodservice packaging, and folding cartons (
PPC Partners acquires North America-based middle-market companies that have enterprise values between $100 million and $750 million and EBITDA in excess of $15 million. Sectors of interest include manufactured products, services and healthcare. The firm is led by Tony Pritzker and the former investment and operating professionals of Pritzker Group Private Capital. PPC Partners has offices in Chicago and Los Angeles (
ProAmpac, a portfolio company of Pritzker Group Private Capital, has acquired Bonita Pioneer Packaging Products. Pritzker acquired ProAmpac from Wellspring Capital Management in October 2016.
ProAmpac’s packaging capabilities include adhesive lamination, extrusion coating and lamination, film extrusion, metalizing, pouching, bag converting, rotogravure printing, flexographic/offset printing, and HD flexo printing. The company operates under the Prolamina, Ampac, Tulsack and Trinity Packaging brands and serves customers in the food, pet care, health care, lawn care, and retail markets as well as providing packaging used in the transport of cash and valuables. With the addition of Bonita, ProAmpac now has 27 manufacturing sites with nearly 3,300 employees supplying more than 5,000 customers in 90 countries. ProAmpac is headquartered in Cincinnati (
“The Bonita acquisition is a compelling opportunity for ProAmpac to further its leadership position in retail and foodservice paper bags and underscores our continued commitment to supporting ProAmpac’s growth strategy,” said Chris Trick, a Principal at Pritzker Group Private Capital.
Pritzker Group, founded by Tony and J.B. Pritzker, has three principal investment teams: Private Capital, which acquires and operates North America-based middle-market companies in the manufactured products, services and healthcare sectors; Venture Capital, which provides early-stage and growth venture funding to technology companies; and Asset Management, which partners with investment managers across global public markets. The Pritzker Group is based in Chicago (
Graham Partners has acquired EasyPak, a thermoformed packaging provider to companies operating in the healthy and natural food markets.
“EasyPak is a strategic fit for the Graham portfolio due to our historical packaging expertise and related industry focus,” said Adam Piatkowski, a Managing Principal at Graham Partners. “The company has strong overlap with Graham’s packaging industry experience and end market overlap with other Graham portfolio companies in the natural foods industry. We have identified several opportunities to scale the business, while still maintaining its focus on customer service and technical excellence.”
Graham Partners acquires companies with EBITDA between $5 million and $50 million and will invest in smaller companies as add-on acquisitions to existing portfolio companies. The firm is sponsored by the Graham Group, an industrial and investment concern with interests in plastics, packaging, machinery, building products and outsourced manufacturing. Graham Partners was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Philadelphia (
